Tomato Energy (Electric Only Supplier) - Too Good To Be True ?

Shedman

Anyone know how to coerce Tomato into submitting the opening reading (closing reading for old supplier) for validation.  My stepdaughter has got over £100 credit with Octopus and left nearly 6 months ago. Multiple emails have been sent to Octopus who are sympathetic but say they can't do anything until the reading gets validated and they issue the final bill (she has had the £40 delay comp credited by Octopus btw...should she claim the extra £40 for payment delay as they just credited it to her Octopus account rather than paid out to her bank account?).  It is frustrating as its just one days use probably 6-7 kWH or about £1.50 and she could do with money back.  Emails have also been sent to Tomato but no response and no action (very surprising I know...).  I guess she needs to submit a formal complaint and then after the 8 weeks take it to the Ombudsman? 

Newbie_John

You can see how good Octopus is when you leave them.. I've waited about that long 6-7 months, they then issued me with the bill and refunded remaining credit.
Patience I guess.
Also lesson for the future to empty account when you're leaving - or switch to variable DD like Tomato has (Octopus also has such option).

masonic

Shedman said:

Anyone know how to coerce Tomato into submitting the opening reading (closing reading for old supplier) for validation.  My stepdaughter has got over £100 credit with Octopus and left nearly 6 months ago. Multiple emails have been sent to Octopus who are sympathetic but say they can't do anything until the reading gets validated and they issue the final bill (she has had the £40 delay comp credited by Octopus btw...should she claim the extra £40 for payment delay as they just credited it to her Octopus account rather than paid out to her bank account?).  It is frustrating as its just one days use probably 6-7 kWH or about £1.50 and she could do with money back.  Emails have also been sent to Tomato but no response and no action (very surprising I know...).  I guess she needs to submit a formal complaint and then after the 8 weeks take it to the Ombudsman? 

I don't think anything you can do will speed up the process. Also be aware many have had the "validated" reading come back inflated, in my case by several hundred kWh. This is probably why Octopus will be resistant to refunding. However, your stepdaughter could still pursue Octopus for a credit refund at the same time as working through the complaint with Tomato. If she leaves the Octopus DD active then they can collect any final payment once they've issued the bill. Given the reading may need to be disputed, the process may drag on for quite some time to come.

Also, be aware when I left Tomato, there was no final reconciliation of consumption against meter readings, so if she starts on a reading that is inflated, she will end up paying for the same units of energy twice.

QrizB

Shedman said:

Anyone know how to coerce Tomato into submitting the opening reading ...

guess she needs to submit a formal complaint and then after the 8 weeks take it to the Ombudsman? 

That would be my approach. Complaint then Ombudsman.

Newbie_John

In my case there were no issues - I was asked to pay exactly what I expected which with £30 given from Octopus for late bills ended up costing me nothing. And yeah, it took similar amount of time.

As she's been waiting 6 months I fully believe it will soon sort itself out - so no need for any further complaints, can't imagine them speeding up this process.

And Octopus saying they can't do anything is not totally true - they could refund the entire credit and then issue the final bill that you would pay, they could also estimate the bill knowing her usage and refund the excess, they just want to keep the money to be safe.

masonic

Sometimes I wonder if Farouk has infiltrated this board. 

No, don't complain about it taking 6 months, it'll all be fine in the end. 

My approach is to complain early and get that clock ticking. A couple of unsuccessful tries with customer service is enough. Goes for anything.

I've never regretted making a complaint. Either the problem gets sorted or I can escalate without having to wait months.

Both firms in this case should be paying out some good will money.

Newbie_John

I'm just tired off the "bring them down" approach here - when I joined Octopus it had such a great PR that I thought I was saving fortune by saving few quids a month, moving to TE I've saved £100+ in each winter month and all I can see is how bad they are - and that's tiring - I would understand if this was an internal Ofgem/Elexon forum - but this is a MSE, the longer they last the more we save.

We've seen a lot of cases of late bills related to switches here - I've experienced it mysel too - didn't need to raise any complaints and it all fixed itself.

So all I'm doing is trying to bring a different perspective - it's up to them what they decide doing in the end.
But for the future the best solution is to avoid keeping any balance with electricity provider - especially during the switch.

No affiliation with anyone, I treat them as Sainbsury's and Aldi 

masonic

Aside from saving money, this site is big on promoting consumer rights, so completely on brand to encourage people to exercise their rights when they've been let down. Businesses only really pay attention when it costs them.

The energy sector is a particularly bad one when it comes to customers being treated badly and customer service is broadly inversely proportional to the size of the business. Despite quite tight regulation.

It makes little sense to me as if you compare to say financial services, the regime is not so different, yet consumer outcomes seem much better.

Ofgem has set out a clear expectation, backed by legislation, that switches should be done and dusted in 6 weeks not 6 months. The penalty is somewhat unfair as it is 100% imposed on the ceding supplier, yet it takes two to settle the account.

I felt a little guilty taking GSOP compensation from Octopus, but they absolutely deserved to pay further compensation for refusing to pay the compensation out to my bank account. I very nearly took them to the ombudsman for that, but they did see sense just days before I planned to escalate.

Likewise for TE, that £80 wipes out most of what I paid them, but it took a formal complaint to get them to acknowledge they needed to pay it (I've still not received it, but can approach the situation in a relaxed manner, knowing in a few weeks I can take that to the ombudsman, likely for more than just the initial £80).

Without the spectre of an even costlier adjudication, I might have been waiting 6 months in each of these cases, but I have the option to put in a formal complaint and shorten the timeline to 8 weeks. Why wouldn't I?

If more customers took this sort of action, there would be much less p***-taking.

MWT

Newbie_John said:

... the longer they last the more we save.

As long as they are paying their bills I agree, but if they are not, then the longer they last the more every other electricity consumer has to pay... and that is the problem...

If they can fix their cash-flow problems and all the other issues raised by Elexon, Ofgem and HMRC etc. then great and I'm sure a lot more customers will move to them, I would certainly consider them if they were better managed and financially stable.

Newbie_John

@MWT, at least two wind up petition mentioned here were paid - so that proves they pay their bills

"The longer they last the more every other customer has to pay" - I don't see that as a worry.. a lot of businesses work that way - look at Premium Bonds - quite popular product here, who pays for the £1mln prizes? Every other saver who didn't win more than 4% in each year. Amazon Prime, those who use the service less actually pay for those who use it more.

I just do really hope that by September they leave this uncertain state in either direction really so I can prepare for winter.